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ADT CHAMPIONSHIP

November 19, 2004

Karrie Webb

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: Good playing today. Tied with Laura. Five birdies today. If you could give some opening comments about the round.

KARRIE WEBB: I got off to a pretty good start. I birdied 2, 3 and 4. Obviously, that's a good thing out here, to get under par pretty quickly.

But I made the turn. I made a bogey, 3 putt bogey on No. 6, then birdied 9 and 10 at 3 under. Played pretty solidly on the Back 9, just didn't get anything to go. Made one birdie, one bogey on the back.

Q. They're already talking on TV, looking back three or four years ago when you and Annika were going head to head for a while. Can you talk about that, how much you'd like to be in that situation again? Did it feel like that a little bit?

KARRIE WEBB: Oh, I guess so. It's only Friday. So, you know, I'm more concerned about the position I'm in and where my game's at, just trying to finish the year off with a pretty positive finish.

Q. A number of players have commented today about the difficulty of putting on these greens, getting the grain right and all that. Being that you live out here, do you feel like you have an advantage with that?

KARRIE WEBB: Not really because the greens are never this fast, ever. So, you know, I think the grain on these greens, it's fairly obvious. One putt today broke totally opposite of what I thought. But it's really just trying to get the speed right because down grain, they are quite quick, especially if you're got the wind behind you and downhill a little bit.

But, you know, playing out here, obviously I've seen the course in many different wind situations and stuff like that. But as far as the greens go, it's almost a disadvantage I think sometimes because, you know, I'm used to playing them so slow that certain putts you think you've got to really give it a hit, then you hit it six feet past. I haven't done that this week, thank God. I noticed last year I really struggled with that.

Q. Can you talk about the conditions? Yesterday you said it was the easiest it's been. Seems windier but the scores seem lower.

KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, I guess lower from people chasing. I think it was definitely windier. But I think this is the best the greens have ever been, so I think that's probably why the scores are a little bit lower.

But, you know, 16 and 18, the pins were fairly generous today. And with the wind direction that it was, 16 didn't play all that long, and 18 was on the front tee. So finishing holes were, you know, you could breathe a little bit more than yesterday.

Q. You talked about the mechanical changes you made in your swing. Could you talk about, you had such rhythm and tempo when you were at the peak of the tour a fewer years ago. Was that a struggle to maintain while going through the mechanical changes?

KARRIE WEBB: A little bit it has, just because, you know, trying to generate my power now from my core. Before, it was a big turn away and then a big drive through. So I have struggled a little bit with that.

But it's probably still pretty much the same, my rhythm. Just with the changes and trusting it, sometimes you get caught up too much on the course technically and not just go out there and try and hit the golf shots.

Q. How much during the course of what you're doing with your swing do you concern yourself with your position, with scores and position on the leaderboard?

KARRIE WEBB: How much do I concern myself?

Q. Yes. As you're going through this process of changing, was it something...

KARRIE WEBB: I think early in the year, before the season started, I really thought that, you know, I was this genius and all these things I was working on I was going to get really quickly. So I expected that I'd get out on the course and get off to quite a quick start. I almost expected to see that.

That was probably just putting too much pressure on myself. I probably tried way too hard. I think I've struggled a lot with that this year, is trying too hard, trying to make things happen. Knowing that things are pretty good in your game, feeling like you really just have to go out there and if you can get off to a good start in the tournament, then you're all set.

It just doesn't work that way. Sometimes you've just got to go in there and just play and not put expectations on yourself. In about April or May, it was when I realized that as good as the changes were and how good I was feeling with them, mentally on the golf course, under the gun, it was going to take a little while for me to really adjust to those and to trust those and to not go back when you're under pressure to the faults that I had in the past.

Q. You're three behind Annika going into tomorrow. How big a day does that become to either keep the margin manageable or not let her get too far away?

KARRIE WEBB: Yeah, I think you probably don't want to be too much more than three behind going into Sunday. It's just going to depend on the weather and the wind. I wouldn't mind seeing it at least as windy as today. Just makes you think about it.

I think yesterday was almost you couldn't believe that there was that little wind, that you didn't have to like create a shot, you know, with the wind. You just had to stand up there and fire at the pin. I've never had to do that out here before.

But, yeah, you don't want to give Annika more than three shots probably on Sunday.

Q. Since we're at Mr. Trump's course here this week, did you watch his show last night?

KARRIE WEBB: Yes.

Q. Any opinion? How did you like it, the surprise ending there?

KARRIE WEBB: To be honest with you, I watched it in the commercials of CSI. That's probably going to lose me my honorary membership. I don't watch enough TV to be constantly up with shows like that. Is that a good answer (laughter)?

Q. You mentioned you're trying to get your game back, get it where you want it. Where are you with it right now? Is it pretty close to what you'd like to have it now that the year is almost over?

KARRIE WEBB: Well, I'm quite happy with where it is at at this time of the year. You know, I still there's still a few things that I need to work on. I don't know, I think it's hard to say whether I could ever be as dominant or play as consistently well as I did for that period of time ever again.

I guess, you know, you aim for that. But just to be consistently up there I think, you know, it could be at the start of next year. It just depends how my off season goes, I guess. I really want to take a little bit of time off.

No, I'd like for it to be a little bit better than it is right now come the middle of the year next year. Mentally I want to be really a lot more comfortable with it. I think physically it's not as much the physical changes as it is mental that I need to overcome.

Q. Oddball question. But when you were at your peak from '99 through '01 or so, did you work as hard at your game that you get a sense that Annika is working now?

KARRIE WEBB: I don't know. I think I worked on my actual golf game if you're at a tournament, I think you probably see me practicing more than you see Annika practicing. But she works on her game, you know, in other ways. Physically she works very, very hard away from the golf course.

So, no, I didn't work that hard, but I worked very hard on my golf game. And I still do now. I mean, I don't work any less now than I did then.

Q. Is it more maintenance, your work?

KARRIE WEBB: I don't know. I never was happy with anything back then. I was always trying to, you know, be better than I was last week.

Q. This question came up a couple weeks ago on the men's side as it related to Vijay. If you were told you could be at this level, where she is, but here is exactly what you would have to do to get there, how many people do you think would be willing to do that?

KARRIE WEBB: Not a lot. I guess if you can guarantee it, but there's no guarantees either. So, you know, there's a lot of people that work extremely hard and aren't even in the position that I'm in.

You know, it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right times a well as having confidence and having your game where you need it to be.

Q. A little bit ago when you said you're not sure you could ever be as dominant as you once were, is it because you're not sure you could play at that level or is it because of the competition out here or a combination of both?

KARRIE WEBB: No, I think it's more the competition. I guess I've realized the fine line that there is, you know, to being to playing well and being dominant. Sometimes you could play just as well. One shot here or there, and it changes your whole view of the year.

You know, I guess I'm more looking towards just how I'm playing, just really trying to enjoy the process along the way.

Q. You play 15 next year, then you're in the Hall of Fame, is that right?

KARRIE WEBB: I think so.

Q. Have you thought about that much? It's just a matter of not getting hit by a truck, I guess. Can we strike that? Staying healthy.

KARRIE WEBB: I've thought about it a little bit. Ideally I'd like to have Calvin over here, so that's the reason why I've thought about it, because that's quite a process to get him over there.

Q. You got in last year or two years ago?

KARRIE WEBB: 2000.

Q. Have you found yourself at all watching some of the induction ceremonies because you know your day is coming?

KARRIE WEBB: A little bit. I went to Annika's LPGA one last year. I've been to Beth's, Juli and Judy, World Golf Hall of Fame. I haven't watched a lot of them on TV, but I've seen clips here and there.

Q. (No microphone.)

KARRIE WEBB: I haven't yet, no. I'm more worried about the speeches. I don't think I can ramble on for 20 minutes.

Q. I think it's got to be a Hall of Famer that presents you. Would you lean more toward Beth or Juli or even someone like Greg?

KARRIE WEBB: To be honest with you, I haven't really thought about it a whole lot. I think it would be pretty cool that I grew up looking up to Greg Norman. You know, I stayed at his house, what, 13, 14 years ago as a 17 year old. I was wide eyed. I couldn't even believe I was meeting Greg Norman and staying at his house. To have him present would be pretty special.

But we'll just see what happens. I don't even know what date it is next year, if Greg is going to be around or anything like that.

Q. (No microphone.)

KARRIE WEBB: I don't know, he had a few of them actually. 65 footer, something like that. Yeah, compared to today.

End of FastScripts.

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